Episode 4 (Season 3, BorN)
"Counter Attack, Start!" is the fourth episode of the third season of the High School DxD anime. It aired on April 25, 2015. Summary The Occult Research Club are informed by Azazel about the status of Loki's seal which will be undone in one more day as Rias ask for an audience with Sirzechs. Meeting with the leaders of the faction, Rias volunteers to act as a vanguard to hold Loki back. Serafall then reveals that Sona has also volunteered to be one of the vanguard. With Ajuka capable of teleporting only a limited number of people, a group of eleven people, nine young Devils from both the Gremory and Sitri teams along with Irina and Rossweisse are chosen while the others such as Asia and Gasper are left behind as support. The Vanguard team are then teleported to the location Loki is sealed, awaiting for the seal on Loki to be broken. Upon time, Loki escapes from the seal. Wanting to avoid conflict and give Loki another chance, Rossweisse tries to talk Loki into expressing his opinion peacefully. Loki, however, refutes the young Valkyrie claiming that Rossweisse isn't his opponent. Loki proceeds to summon Fenrir, Fenrir's sons, Hati and Sköll, as well as one Midgardsormr clone. With Loki starting his attack, both Issei and Saji immediately promotes to Queen, and the vanguard team starts their counterattacks. Issei, Yuuto and Xenovia are tasked with holding back Fenrir while Rias, Akeno, Sona and Tsubaki takes on the Midgardsormr clone. At the same time, Rossweisse and Irina takes on one of Fenrir's son. With Fenrir held back by Xenovia and Yuuto who trapped the legendary wolf between 2 huge rocks, Issei and Koneko changes their focus to Fenrir's other son. Watching the battle, Loki notes that he underestimated the vanguard team after seeing his monsters held back. Countering Saji's sneak attack, Loki expresses his disappointment over his opponent. Meantime, Rossweisse and Irina successfully kills one of Fenrir's son. With her enemy out of the way, Rossweisse switches her attention to Loki asking him one last time to reconsider before attacking the Evil God. With his focus taken, Saji successfully link Loki with his Absorption Line after the latter left his guard down, revealing that he has obtain all four of the Vritra Gear preventing Loki from removing the line. Concurrently, Issei and Koneko successfully kills Fenrir's other son, after stabbing him with Ascalon. Enraged with the interference, Loki uses his full power to destroy the line linking him to Saji's Sacred Gear and launches a wide scale ice attack, injuring Yuuto in the process allowing Fenrir to escape. Loki continues his attack with another wide scale, inflicting severe injuries to Yuuto, Xenovia and Saji. Determined to buy time for their allies to recover, Issei and Rias decides to take on Loki. Rossweisse then receives news from Odin and informs the combatants that the Mjolnir has arrived. Loki realizing that Odin has sent the Mjölnir to assist the vanguard team, tries to destroy the weapon but was stopped by Saji who once again bind Loki with his Absorption Line. Issei immediately charges towards the Mjolnir but was bitten by Fenrir before he can reach the legendary weapon and is fatally injured by the wounds Fenrir inflicted. With Issei presumed to be dead, Issei's allies attack Fenrir in rage. With Saji losing his focus over Issei's death, Loki easily cancels out the line from Saji's Sacred Gear. Enraged over the lost her beloved, Rias unleashes a huge torrent of Demonic Power with the intention of killing Loki and herself. Stats Original airdate: April 25, 2015 Written by: Tetsuya Yanagisawa Featured Characters Important Notes Trying to grab Mjolnir to defeat Loki Issei is bitten by Fenrir and forced out of Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker. Rias Gremory runs to his aid where he then appears to die in her arms, resulting in everyone to lose composure and release a full assault on Fenrir. Finally the Episode ends with Rias's power going wild while cursing Loki and saying "I won't let you die" reffering to Issei then ending. Quotes Irina Shidou: Xenovia! Thank God! Xenovia Quarta: Rather not. You wanna take this guy together? Irina Shidou: '''Sounds like fun. We'll be an unstoppable Heaven and Hell combo! (Xenovia, Yuuto, Irina, and Koneko are seen charging at Fernir with rage and tears in their eyes) '''Xenovia Quarta: '''You're gonna die, bastard! '''Irina Shidou: '''How dare you?! '''Koneko Toujou: '''YAAAAHHH! '''Yuuto Kiba: RAAARGH! Rias Gremory: I will not let you die here alone. How dare you, Loki?! You monster! You thought you could take what's mine?! I don't give a damn about your Ragnarok! I swear, even if the world does end today, and even if every last drop of my blood boils away, you will pay for what you've done! I will take you down with me! Trivia Differences between Light Novel and Anime * In the Light Novels, Tsubaki revealed her Sacred Gear during the rating game of Rias versus Sona. while in the anime, she revealed it during the battle of Loki. * In the Light Novels, Koneko revealed and uses her Nekomata form during the Rating Game while in the anime she revealed and uses her Nekomata form during the battle of Loki. * In the Light Novels, Koneko asked Issei to give her courage before the Rating Game, while in the anime she asked it before the battle of Loki. * In the Light Novels, Akeno also asked Issei to give her courage before Koneko did but in the anime the order was reversed. Issei also doesn't have any knowledge to know the reason why Akeno asked him in the first place. * In the Light Novels, Saji Revealed that Azazel had placed the remaining of Vritra's Sacred Gears into Saji. It is unknown in the Anime whether Vritra's consciousness was fully awaken or not. * In the anime during the battle of Loki, Vali's team, Baraqiel and Azazel are currently absent from the battlefield. * In the Light Novel Akeno uses her Fallen angel powers after Issei retired in the Rating Game, however in the anime she use her Fallen Angel powers during the battle of Loki right after Koneko revealed her Nekomata form. * In the Light Novel, at the beginning Issei had a countdown before he could active his Balance Breaker while in the anime, during the fight against Loki, this countdown seemed to be removed. Miscellaneous Trivia External Links Navigation Category:Season 3 Category:Episodes Category:Anime Category:Media